Dr. Annkatrin Rose

Introduction to Botany (BIO 2000)

BIO 2000 is one of the organismal courses in the Biology Department at Appalachian State University. I am teaching it on an irregular rotation with other faculty members. This course is designed to teach structure, function, and evolution of plants. It addresses the questions: What are plants? How do they work? Where did they come from?

The anatomy and physiology part of the course takes a closer look at how plants work and grow. Lecture and lab materials cover vascular plant morphology, anatomy and physiology with an emphasis on structure-function relationships. Students learn to distinguish between different plant types, organs, tissues and cells by examining macroscopic and microscopic features in lab and conduct a series of experiments, e.g. investigating water transport and the effects of plant hormones and environment on plant growth.

The evolution and ecology part of the course addresses the questions how plants evolved and how they fit into our world, discussing the importance of plants for life on earth and human society. Lecture and lab materials provide guidance to the classification and diversity of plants and related organisms and their evolutionary relationships, surveying groups of organisms traditionally included in Botany such as microbes, fungi, algae and the true plants. Emphasis is placed on comparing the different life cycles of these organisms and a detailed look at their reproductive structures. The discussion of plant evolution concludes with the evolution of seeds and flowers and how plants recruit animals to aid in their reproductive success.

Prerequisites:

This is a sophomore level science class that builds heavily on introductory biology. You need to know what the terms "haploid" and "diploid" mean and how they relate to the processes of mitosis and meiosis. I strongly suggest reviewing intro bio material on biomolecules and cell structure. Prerequisite courses are BIO1801 for non-Biology majors and both BIO1801 and BIO1802 for all Biology majors. The better prep course for this class is actually BIO1802, as it covers some of the same material (plant structure, evolution and life cycles).

What this course is not:

BIO 2000 is not...
... Gardening 101 - This is not a horticulture course. While we do visit the greenhouse and may grow some plants for experiments, labs are heavy on microscopy. This is a science class looking at how plants work, not so much at how to grow them. If you want to learn the practical aspects of how to grow and propagate plants, you may be interested in the High Country Gardening classes offered at the Greenhouse (outreach program open to the public).
... What plant is this? - This is not a field course. While we do some field trips during labs as weather permits, they focus more on structures, evolution and ecology. If you are interested in going out and identifying local plants, follow up with the Systematic Botany field course (requires BIO 2000 as a pre-requisite) or the Local Flora summer field course.